The Village of St Pierre has changed recycling companies, and the mayor is all smiles. 

At their last council meeting, a new contract was handed over to a local garbage and recycling company.  The community was already using the services of Bristal Hauling and starting in two weeks, they will begin picking up recycling.  

Mayor Raymond Maynard says the company they had been using until now was no longer able to provide the service and so they put out tender for offers.  

“And Bristal Hauling came in with a great idea and a really good tender. They are also going to be supplying new recycling bins and, in St Pierre, unfortunately, when we bought garbage bins, we made the mistake of buying blue bins for the garbage. So, now we've got 2 blue bins, but Bristal Hauling is going to be changing the lid on our garbage bin to a gray lid so that we know the difference.” 

Maynard says recycling pick up will begin on Friday, February 16th.  

“They will be picking up every two weeks on Fridays, and yeah, it's really good. It's going to be nice. There is no more need to put items in a recycling bag, everything goes straight into the bin, loose. So that will be nice.” 

Maynard notes the new recycling bins are the 95-gallon bin, about four feet tall.  

He adds, Bristal Hauling has been taking care of their garbage pick-up for about two years now.  

“So, they'll be doing both on Fridays. The recycling pick-up will be every second Friday, but the garbage will be every Friday.” 

Maynard says the biggest benefit for St Pierre residents would be the new big recycling bins.  

“So, they're going to be saving money on recycling bags because we’ve never had bins in the past. It’s better for the environment, so we'll be saving our landfills.” 

He adds the recycling company they were using brought some of their recycling to the landfill, though he notes it was all the glass.

“So, we felt it was more environmentally friendly for us to go with Bristal, who are delivering the recycling items to Winnipeg.” 

Maynard says, so far residents of St Pierre are happy with the change. He notes business who have their own recycling method will continue doing what they have been doing.   

When it comes to extra cost of the recycling service with Bristal Hauling, Maynard says,  

“Actually, it works out pretty well exactly the same as what it was when we were with the other company. So, yeah. It was win-win. It was perfect. It was better for the environment. Price was the same. Pickups are still every two weeks. The nice part is now instead of bags and stuff, it's going to be in a bin.” 

Maynard smiles and adds, “The one extra service that I love that Bristal does is that they will, if there's a person that, let's say, breaks a leg or something like that, or they're ill, or laid up for a week or two. That resident can send a message to Bristal, and Bristal will go into the yard, get the garbage or recycling bin, bring it to the truck, empty it and bring the bin back to where it was on their yard. As an extra service, and at no extra charge to help the people that are not able to bring their garbage or recycling to the road.” 

Maynard confesses, this isn’t something that Bristal does for St Pierre residents exclusively, “They do that for all the communities. It's not something that they advertise, but they do it and they monitor it, because if they see people are taking advantage of it, they don't do it anymore. But yeah, if some if people need help, they will help.”  

Bristal Hauling is based in Niverville, and Maynard says the company is a huge supporter of their town, getting involved in the Frog Follies parade and organizing a BBQ for the town's residents.  

“They want to be involved in the community, so that was very important for us too.” 

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